Better than bonus material? What Second Screen could do for title sell-thru

When DVD's first arrived on the scene back in the late '90s, the majority of consumers thought they were a significant leap ahead of VHS tapes because of their size, ability to quickly access anywhere on the disc, better picture quality, etc.  But as the industry realized the opportunity to create a sell-thru model (vs. the rental model with VHS), they started trying to figure out what it would take to get consumers to collect or gift DVD's (the biggest reason for purchases).

And bonus material was born.

Converting physical DVDs and Blu-ray discs at Walmart to my Vudu (and UltraViolet) account

A few weeks ago when the story first broke about Walmart planning to launch an Ultraviolet-compatible disc-to-digital conversion service thru their own Vudu video service, I raised some points about cost vs. hassle, availability of titles, and potentially what could be done to use this (and hopefully other similar services) to drive growth in digital sell-thru for the studios. I also raised some points later about what would help drive digital sell thru.

So yesterday morning, on the day Walmart launched their service, I called Walmart and asked to speak to the photo processing departing. A very kind woman answered and said she wasn't sure if the service had launched, but had heard about it and asked if I could call back in 15 minutes so she could ask. 15 minutes later, she told me the service was ready, but that no one in her department including herself had been trained in how to do this, but if I was patient, I was more than welcome to come down to be their first customer.

My Second Screen Experience with Bambi on Blu-ray

Probably the best content driven approach to second screen I have seen yet.  The Stimulating nature of the original drawings, trivia, companion comic strips from the 1920s, picture scrambles, and other items were delivered in a UX that was well thought through.  An event about every 30-45 seconds, no sound, etc. A very passive and yet engaging experience.


Not everything was perfect.  I tried several times to get the audiosync to work to keep the synchronized content experience on track (provided by TVplus), but to no avail (yes, I did try the volume cranked way beyond normal levels to see if it would work).  This is probably why the releases that followed this from Disney (Tron for example) had wi-fi sync in addition to audio sync as an option.

Additionally, Disney did a better job than anyone I have seen in providing a "help" video on-line for their consumers.  It should be replicated by everyone else, including those TV shows and networks with dedicated apps for their brands and even by the 3rd party apps that cover multiple shows, titles, networks, etc.

Summary:

- Simple.  No control of the 1st screen.  Audio sync also did not work that well.
- Social.  I did not find any way to share on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
- Seamless.  No integration of other sources of content.
- Stimulating.  HIGH.  Very High.  Great content integration and UX.
- Discovery.  No features to help you find new content.

Watching Cowboys and Aliens with Pocket-Blu as a Second Screen Experience

There are some interesting features with this Blu-ray experience, and some UX features that are simply annoying.  First, I love the fact that the second screen experience is highly promoted as the Blu-ray starts playback on the first screen.  (*Updated with images after blogger.com fixed their issues).

I also like the other titles it shows as having a Second Screen Blu-ray experience.  I am not aligned to the titles being tied to an app that that is not discernable until you load the disc (ie no marketing, no consumer launch effort other than the discs which carry it).

The general UI layout was ok once the Blu-ray started and the app detected it was playing.  It allowed control of the first screen like a high-end remote, but with the ability to see chapters and events/scenes within chapters.

However, the "materials" that came up as events were always the behind the scenes videos.  Granted, they were well synchronized to the playback of the feature, but I could not find a way to turn them off.  Every time it tripped across a new event, a video on the second screen would start playing, sound and all.  Talk about distracting.  It even automatically went to full screen on the tablet each time.  In the end, the only way I could figure out how to silence it was by muting my iPad with the external volume control.

I watched an hour of the feature or so and did not encounter any other kind of material (cast information, drawings, etc).  I did look to see if there was a way to see something other than videos, but it certainly wasn't obvious if there are other feature types.  I did stumble on to this, but could not get it to do anything for my experience (it hung and crashed the app).  I think it was designed to let you choose the kind of things that get fired on events, but I could not get it to work.

My overall view is that there are some great concept ideas (multiple features in a single app, marketing of the second screen, etc), but the UX and the related content wasn't thought through or tested on real consumers.  Almost, "Great platform potential, needs better title feature consideration."

Simple.  Great control of the first screen.  High.

Social.  There was a Facebook post capability, but not much more.  Low.

Seamless.  While they displayed other titles, it was only in list form, not in any sense of where you could source those features.  None.

Stimulating.  Good synchronized effort, just poor choice in content (and no other events other than video--or the UX isn't simple enough to figure that out).  I could not find cast information, other sources, etc.  Medium.

Discovery.  No indication of recommendations, etc.  None.